Shire says disadvantaged tag not surprising

The Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku says people choose to live in the community for cultural, rather than economic, reasons, so new data highlighting the area as disadvantaged is not surprising.

The Goldfields shires of Menzies and Ngaanyatjarraku, along with Halls Creek, Upper Gascoyne and Derby West Kimberley, were named the most disadvantaged local government areas in Western Australia.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics used 2011 census data to rate suburbs and towns according to socio-economic factors.

Shire president Damien McLean says tourism is becoming a big focus for the shire.

"There's three real things out here for travellers and this is what we're working through with people out here," he said.

"First is just the sheer wilderness values, the second is the Aboriginal or Indigenous overlay on the landscape and the third is the post contact history of the place.

"All three of those things come together to make the area of interest for travellers and for tourists."

Mr McLean says he does not believe the shire is neglected.

"Isolation is a very big factor," he said.

"Communications and transport have always been very big for us and we've put a lot of time and effort into them.

"You talk to every shire or every local government in Western Australia they all have a need and there's never enough money to go around but ... I think we get dealt with very fairly through the grants commission process and we have no complaint."